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Caddo Lake State Park - Jan 29 & 30, 2011

Our overnight hang & paddle was a spur of the moment decision made on Thursday afternoon. The weather was supposed to be very "un-January" - highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. Who could pass that up.

We packed up our gear and the canoe (thanks to all who gave advice - the homemade rack worked great!) early Saturday morning, hit the Starbucks, and started driving east. We stopped for a little late breakfast in Marshall and stopped for a bag of ice ($1.25/bag - cheap) at the little grocery right outside of Caddo Lake State Park.

This park would be a prime location for a group hang. The Mill Pond area is their water-only "primitive" area. It is right along Mill Pond so launching canoes and kayaks would be super easy. A boat ramp is just up the road for those with motor boats.

We were the only campers in the Mill Pond area on Saturday, so we had our choice of sites. We chose site 50 - great trees for hanging and directly across from a little opening in the cypress trees to put in the canoe. We got camp set up and put in for a paddle up to the Hwy 43 bridge and back (abt 2 miles?), then had lunch before another paddle down into Caddo Lake proper. The wind picked up as we turned back towards camp, and of course it was against us... We had a nice campfire and a great dinner - Caesar salads, fried sweet potatoes, and jalapeno & cheddar sausage.

On the hanging... Leave it to say, a 3 season incubator was plenty warm for a high 50s/low 60s night. Pam slept in the winter incubator, and got downright hot. I hung in the WBBB 1.1 dbl I bought to see if it was any different than the WBBB 1.7 dbl. I attached my 7/64" Amsteel UCRs to the hammock, and the head end UCR slipped a bit during the night (not sure why). The 1.1 dbl seems to have a little less calf ridge than the 1.7 dbl, but it's still there and still annoying. Wen I got out from under the sleeping bag and put my knees and legs on the bag, the problem went away. I just don't want to have to carry something extra to combat the ridge.

We were expecting thunderstorms overnight, so I attached my WB BMJ doors to both my BMJ and to Pam's OES Deluxe. The doors are a little short (from ridge line to corner) for the OES, so I fashioned shock cord loops that I attached to the corner D-rings, and hooked the bottom connection of the doors to these loops. The WB doors worked perfectly on the OES tarp (see the photos for examples).

No rain hit overnight, but I can report that the glow-in-the-dark micro Line-Loks that I use on all of my guy lines were glowing at 6am (that's almost 12 hours in the dark) when I had to get up, if you know what I mean.

We made breakfast, did a little more paddling in the glassy still Mill Pond, and then packed up and headed home. I think Pamela had a really good time, and is ready to go again. She is still working on getting comfortable in her hammock, but she is game on continuing the process. That's all I want.

"One of the best things you can do in this world is take a nap in the woods." ~ Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

"While it may be a lot of work, the view is best from the summit." ~ an anonymous staff member of Philmont Scout Ranch

Yep, about 16 yrs ago I moved to Marshall to teach just so I could be 15 mi. from Caddo. If you haven't made it over to Ann and Barry's Pine Needle Lodge to put in and paddle over to Goose Is. to camp, that's a real treat!! There's a big loop there that's awesome too. I moved away about 6 yrs ago, but only about an hour and a half away. I love to paddle there in the winter, lots of wildlife. Now if they could just get the giant salvinia and water hyacinth under control it would be even better. Areas off the boat lanes aren't accessible any longer, which is a real shame. Thanks for sharing! I need to make it over there soon.